Thursday, January 28, 2016

Looking at Deciduous Oak Trees in Winter

Oak trees are magnificent during all seasons. Some, like the live oaks, are evergreen.Many oaks on the California Central Coast, though, are deciduous. They lose their leaves in winter. That's when I think they are most interesting. With the leaves gone, the oaks reveal their skeletons, their branches that are covered with leaves half the year. It's also easier to see lichens and galls once the leaves don't cover them. That's why in this post we will be looking at deciduous oak trees in winter.

The oak to the right was photographed at Berry Hill Farm on Linne Road in Paso Robles, in January. Most of the leaves have dropped off. You can see the silhouette of the tree's skeleton. You can click most photos on this page to enlarge them.

Some of the most interesting oak trees are those that have been damaged in some way. Sometimes they've had their shapes changed by man when they get too close power lines along the sides of roads. In other instances they've been damaged by fire or lightning. Insects and fungus can also attack oaks. If you see a ring of mushrooms around an oak, it's an indication the tree may be infected in the roots and bark, as well. Oak root fungus can eventually kill an oak treeif the tree has also been weakened in some other way.

I am not sure what has damaged the tree below. The mistletoe has probably weakened it, especially since the drought has stressed the trees and made them more susceptible to mistletoe's stealing of nutrients. Mistletoe can eventually cause the limb to break at the point where it is attached.

With a tree's leaves gone, it's easier to see unusual growths on the oaks. Two of the most common are lichens and oak galls. The round galls are made by gall wasps laying eggs. The lichens add color to the bark. Neither growth harms the trees, but they do add interest. The galls almost look like the balls one would hang on a Christmas tree, except they aren't shiny.

It ought to be obvious now that I love oak trees, especially in winter. That's why I made a few designs at Zazzle using some of my photos. Most of the oaks I used in Zazzle products were photographed when they still had leaves, but these were taken when the leaves were gone.

Follow Me on Twitter

Follow this blog by email.

Check Out Sales at Dover

Search This Blog

Affiliate Disclosure

Barbara Radisavljevic, the owner of http://paso-robles-daily-photos.blogspot.com/ is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc or its affiliates. See more

Share this on Flip

Paso Robles Scenes

I Love My Prime!

Followers

Follow Me On Pinterest

I'm a City Daily Photo Blogger

About Me

I
have lived in and loved California my entire life and now reside on its beautiful Central Coast. The
longer I live in San Luis Obispo’s North County, the more contented
I become here. Most of my waking hours when I'm not occupied with chores, you will find me blogging, reading, walking around with my camera in hand, tending my garden, or dabbling in the local art scene. I hate shopping, and do it only if we will starve if I don't.

Google+ Badge

I'm a Survivor

Cookie Disclosure

Our website uses cookies to improve your user experience. These are placed by third parties for the purposes of enabling you to make comments, share with social media, and enable our affiliates to know you were referred by our site if click on product links.

Some third party cookies gather analytical information which is not personally identifiable so that we may know general things, such as what countries our traffic comes from and which pages were viewed. Please do not use this site if you object to these cookies being used.

PRIVACY POLICY

Your PRIVACY is important to us. We do not personally collect or save any information you put into the forms on this site. Since Blogger is a Google service, Google's Privacy Policy applies to any forms or Google Advertisements you see here or any forms you fill in to subscribe to our blog.

Links to our affiliates take you to their sites where their privacy policies apply.

We are in compliance with the requirements of COPPA (Childrens Online Privacy Protection Act), we do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age. Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.